Ignaz Schuhmann

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Ignaz Schuhmann (born April 26, 1909 in Hartheim ; † January 9, 1945 in Vienna ) was an Austrian resistance fighter against National Socialism from the village of Hartheim, which belongs to the municipality of Alkoven near Linz .

Schuhmann was the second of nine children of the farmer couple Therese and Ignaz Schuhmann. He worked at his parents' farm near Hartheim Castle , and also learned to be a carpenter. After a period of hiking that had taken him to various places in Upper Austria, Vienna and Tyrol, he returned to his parents' farm in 1938, but worked for the Neubauer company in Linz. In 1940 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, from which he resigned on June 15, 1941 because of a severe lower leg fracture. In 1943 he worked as a warehouse clerk at the ironworks' transshipment warehouse and later at the freight station in Kleinmünchen- Linz. He was the father of one child. He came from a Christian social family, but did not belong to any party and was not politically active.

At that time there was a Nazi killing center in Hartheim Castle , in which mainly mentally ill and disabled people were gassed. The horrific events in the village did not go unnoticed and so in February and March 1943 anti-Nazi slogans appeared on house walls in alcoves.

"... Hitler is a mass murderer, 5 years of blood rule in Austria - every Austrian fights today against the brown Nazi criminals! He and his helpers have to die. "

Letters with statements critical of the regime were also sent to the local group leader of Alkoven, Albert Schrott. The responsible persons could never be clearly identified. However, these actions coincide with the illegal activities of Leopold Hilgarth and Ignaz Schuhmann. Four of the two leaflets were produced between 1943 and 1944 (print run 50–150 pieces) and u. a. distributed in Linz.

The Gestapo had already got wind of the illegal activity in January 1944 and so Hilgarth and Schuhmann and others involved (Johann Keppelmüller, Karl Schuhmann) were arrested on June 13, 1944. Schuhmann and Hilgarth were sentenced to death by the guillotine by the Vienna Regional Court. Sometimes sentenced to long prison terms.

In 2003 a memorial for Schuhmann and Hilgarth was erected in front of Hartheim Castle.

literature

  • Irene Leitner: Nazi euthanasia: knowledge and resistance. Perceptions in the population and the resistance of individuals. In: Brigitte Kepplinger , Gerhart Marckhgott , Hartmut Reese (eds.): Hartheim Killing Institution (= Upper Austria in the time of National Socialism. Volume 3). Upper Austrian Provincial Archives, Linz 2008 (3rd edition, Linz 2013), pp. 217–260, ISBN 978-3-900313-89-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Langbein Symposium 2007, page 29 , accessed on January 27. 2010
  2. ↑ a b c d e Irene Leitner 2008, p. 244.
  3. ↑ a b c Irene Leitner 2008, p. 241.
  4. ↑ Irene Leitner 2008, pp. 245–247.
personal data
SURNAME Schuhmann, Ignaz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartheim
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1945
Place of death Vienna